Newton's Three Laws of Motion
by Shinichi06
Summary: John attempts to cure Sherlock's boredom, and the only cure for boredom is to incite curiosity. Oneshot.


FF – Sherlock

Newton's Three Laws of Motion

_The cure for boredom is curiosity... there is no cure for curiosity._

Warnings : Random usage of physics vocabulary.  
>Characters : Sherlock Holmes, Dr John Watson<p>

Summary : John attempts to cure Sherlock's boredom, and the only cure for boredom is to incite curiosity.

1 - Law of inertia

_Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it._

The blue lump on the sofa stayed immobile for days. John had left the house, returning hours later, and Sherlock had remained curled up on it, responding only in grunts and incoherent grumbles. If John complained about it, Sherlock would only insist that he was bored and it wasn't his fault that it was so.

Around him, John usually had to resist the temptation to roll his eyes.

He made sure to visit the bookstore on his way back from work that day. Shoving books from the shelves into the black basket, it took much effort to heave them on to the cashier's counter, and it was an even greater chore to lug the paper bags home – his old gun wound had started to ache painfully by the time he was outside their flat, hands shaking as they fumbled around his pockets for the keys.

He dumped the entire pile onto the coffee table. Sherlock blinked at him.

"You're going into physical sciences and mathematics now?"

John busied himself with sorting out the books into categories. "What? Oh, no, these are for you. Boredom must be dull, isn't it?" He commented absentmindedly as he folded the paper bags up.

"And so you had the brilliant idea to bring... science into the equation. Why would it matter?" Sherlock said dryly, but all the same, he reached out to pick up the book at the top of the pile gingerly.

"Because," John emphasised slowly, "This happens to be data that could be useful in the event of an intelligent crime." Talking to Sherlock was like speaking to a child sometimes, John mused. The use of Sherlock-jargon was very much essential.

"The Fundamentals of Quantum Physics? I don't see how this would be of any relevance."

"Oh, don't be so sure. You wouldn't know if you would meet a scientist-turned-murderer case one day."

Sherlock harrumphed as he flipped through the pages of the textbook idly. "And I reckon you've been watching too much telly. All that science-fiction nonsense has found its way into your head. You ought to be like me." He leaned towards John and tapped his own temple lightly. "Delete all that unnecessary rubbish."

John succumbed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, what an amazing piece of advice! Now, be a good boy and satisfy your boredom by being curious. You can delete all that when you're done with it, since it's so convenient." He said dryly before whisking away into the kitchen. "Tea for you to go with that book?"

Sherlock grunted something in response, and John spied from a corner of his eye, with satisfaction, furrowed eyebrows glaring into the physics book.

2 – Force = Mass x Acceleration

_The change in velocity (acceleration) with which an object moves is directly proportional to the magnitude of the force applied to the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object._

John noticed that Sherlock had begun to devour the physics books with increasing intensity. Sketched, graphs and calculations hastily scribbled on white paper littered their flat, and the number of textbooks grew into a small pile that sat lazily beside the sofa Sherlock sat in, still in his pale blue pyjamas and bathrobe, muttering to himself and hair askew.

"Brilliant, you're back. Pass me the calculator." He stepped over the mountain of books and leaned over, pushing more papers away from Sherlock's desk before handing it to him. He sat in the couch, watching Sherlock in amusement.

"Have you moved at all, actually?" John was beginning to wonder if his induction of physics was counterproductive. Sure, the boredom had been quelled, but it wasn't exactly healthy to have Sherlock cooped up at home all day.

"Shush! Don't talk. See here. If we apply Euler's formula right... here, and invert those numbers right there... we can attain the perfect solution to the particle in a box problem." Sherlock's eyes gleamed in excitement.

John smiled. "As long as you're happy. You're going to have to clean this mess up though. Mrs Hudson won't be happy to see all these litter all over the place."

"Remember to tell her it's your fault." Sherlock huffed and shut the book, throwing his feet up on to the coffee table as he pressed back against the sofa to survey John idly. "There's too much mess to clear, but I guess I could get to it someday."

That's a sort of improvement. "I see you've got more books." He nodded at the pile. The top book slid off from its place and landed lightly among others, as if in response. "Five books of problems not enough to last you for a day?"

Sherlock scoffed. "Too easy. Child's play. It was nice though. To have something to do, between cases."

He laughed lightly. 'You'll put the students at Oxbridge to shame."

"Is that not good?" Sherlock's tone was cautious.

"It's good. Very good." John added. Sherlock beamed, satisfied.

"I'll just get a box to pile this in then." He said quickly, standing up and brushing through the stacks, heading up the stairs.

John decided he liked the slight change, but only for a moment. "Wait, Sherlock!" He yelled, standing up hurriedly. "Why are you looking for an empty box in my room?"

3 – Newton's Third Law of Motion

_For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction._

Sherlock holed himself up for the remainder of the week, much to John's dismay. The lack of interesting cases from both Lestrade and Mycroft helped fuel Sherlock's increasing sessions of dissecting the mysteries of physics that had begun to expand into theoretical nuclear physics and engineering.

It wasn't so bad, until Sherlock expected John to stay in to help him with his "experiments", which alarmed John greatly.

"You're not attempting to experiment with nuclear reactions, are you?" He said rather nervously as Sherlock handed him a pair of goggles.

"What? Oh, no, don't be an idiot, John; I don't have the equipment for that. And I'm not stupid, it's not worth risking my life for that, no, I'm just testing the viscosity of different fluids." Sherlock commented shortly, prodding with the nubs and nuzzles on a strange looking contraption.

"I would just prefer that you didn't conduct such experiments here." John said wistfully, slapping the goggles on to his face. "Don't you need a pair for yourself?"

"Never needed them." Sherlock looked over his papers, making faint adjustments. "We could do this in your room though..."

John shot him a stern glare that was softened by the urge to laugh. "In any case, I have to leave in an hour – one of the doctors is on urgent leave and I have to cover for him."

"Right." Sherlock said, not turning away from the tank. White liquid of sorts settled in it. "Because the grand, common cold of a child simply cannot match up to the dull, boring experiments of thermofluids."

John shrugged lightly. "Well, admittedly, physics has never been one of my stronger subjects. I excelled better at chemistry and biology."

Sherlock glanced up from his scribbles with a raised eyebrow. "What? We have to change that right away."

"I didn't expect you to get _this_ absorbed into it, Sherlock." John said, feeling victorious.

His flatmate huffed in false anger, lips pulled in mirth. "Oh, shut up."


End file.
